


in plain sight

by Astrid_Goes_For_A_Spin



Series: Iris Week 2020 [5]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Batwoman (TV 2019), Black Lightning (TV), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alex and Ava and Lyla run the JLA, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Cisco and Gambi are buds, Coffeeshop AU, Fluff without Plot, Gen, Iris is a spy, Jitters is a front for the JLA, Kate runs the coffeeshop, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, William's love of the Flash, Women Being Awesome, and stealing from Smallville, boss Kate Kane, friendship fluff, full on mixing all five shows here, gratuitous crossovers, i have squeezed every possible reference in, kid William Clayton, spy Iris West, time bros, who run the world, women
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:00:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24932656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astrid_Goes_For_A_Spin/pseuds/Astrid_Goes_For_A_Spin
Summary: Iris Week 2020 Day 5: Coffeeshop AU!Iris’s paycheck might say she’s a barista, but it’s been a long time since she’s had any reservations about her real job: taking the temperature of the crowds they use to mask the underground Justice League headquarters.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West, Iris West & Kate Kane
Series: Iris Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799020
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	in plain sight

“Don’t tell anyone,” Iris repeats mockingly to herself, “But I have it on good authority that one of the regulars here is _Batwoman_.” Scoffing, Iris slams the cash register closed. She gets a few of these fringe people every week, insisting to her that the data shows that Jitters just has to be the locus of all the superheroes Iris can imagine.

Iris is great at customer service: she’ll smile and ask “Oh, really? Should I be watching out for Black Canary in the morning rush?” and scooch into the unoccupied chair across from the newest theorist, and this is almost always a good strategy to get the down-low.

Ripping the rag off her shoulder, Iris goes through the kitchen, dodging colleagues, and raps at Kate’s door.

“Yeah?”

“Your sister thinks Batwoman’s a regular here,” Iris says, rolling her eyes as Kate stares over the computer screen. “Are you ever gonna tell her? Because one day she’s gonna tell that theory to the wrong friendly face.”

Kate lets out a very small groan. “Mary?”

“If it was your other sister we’d be in a lot more trouble, because I think Kara would’ve vaporized her,” Iris says. “Kate, we need a better front. Literally anything. Casino?”

“I’ve been telling her,” Kara says herself, materializing at Iris’s elbow. Iris doesn’t even jump anymore. “Alex says the funds just aren’t here.”

“You have no idea how much money my family is worth,” Thea shouts from the depths of the kitchen, clearly eavesdropping.

“Are you even working?” Sara shouts back.

“Like you’re one to talk, babe,” Ava says, stepping off the elevator and appraising Sara’s makeshift pull-up bar in the freezer doorway. “Iris, did you say you have a new conspiracy theorist?”

Iris’s paycheck might say she’s a barista, but it’s been a long time since she’s had any reservations about her real job: taking the temperature of the crowds they use to mask the underground Justice League headquarters.

“Kate still hasn’t told her sister, and now Mary’s telling me about it,” Iris reports. “Other than Mary, I’ve still got crazy Chloe Sullivan, who fully believes Superman works here, and Gary Greene, who is becoming uncomfortably...Gary.”

“Can someone help out front, please?” Kendra calls through the kitchen. “It’s getting very busy!”

“I’m comin’!” Wally says, juggling hand-whipped milk and fancy batter for pastries Iris can’t name – one of the many perks of a speedster on the staff. Kara snatches the bowl of batter as he passes and disappears off toward the ovens, heat vision starting to glow.

“Yeah, I’m heading back out,” Iris sighs, rapping Kate’s door again. “Seriously. We could be anything, this is just exhausting. Gambi and Cisco have a petition running around the lower levels to switch to a tailor’s.”

“Too many people come through here to ignore,” Ava says. “If you really need, I’ll ask around to see if we can get someone else in here to lighten your load.”

“I hear Lois Lane is great at this kinda thing,” Iris snarks. Kara barks a laugh from the other side of the kitchen. It’s a good point; Lois is pushy and brassy and all wrong for this kind of work. Iris needs spies. Or therapists. Would Jen’s meta-therapist – Perenna, right? – be a good source? “Yeah, I’m going.”

When Iris reemerges into the hustle of the coffeeshop proper, she takes a moment to readjust. While they do hate the conspiracy theorists, it’s because they are _right_ ; if a hero isn’t working at Jitters, they’re definitely connected here in other ways. Iris has a panic button on her phone and her keys for just that reason: she’s a walking compendium of secret identities.

“You take the orders, Ray,” Iris says as she passes him, patting his shoulder. Ray is perhaps the only person Iris knows who actually enjoys customer service, and he makes an excellent human shield for just this reason. “I’m going to call out orders.” 

For a bit, Iris can just lose herself in the flow of the work. It’s nice, at least, to be paid a living wage and know she’s safe and that she works among friends. Ray cheerfully listens to what Iris considers to be _ridiculous_ names for beverages, Nate makes them, hip-checking Ray every other order, and hands them off to Iris, who calls out names. Nia is on cash register, and Iris can’t believe she’s been as patient as she has with them high-fiving over her head.

“Two hot chocolates for Samantha?” Iris calls. A woman she vaguely recognizes hurries up to the counter, and Iris stares at her face, trying to memorize the details in case they’re the key to Iris’s memory: long dark hair parted exactly in the middle, wide, tired eyes, thin nose, pale skin. It’s not until Iris notices the little boy tucked into her side that it clicks.

“Hey, what’cha got there?” Iris asks conspiratorially. William Clayton looks up at her with adorable gentle curiosity. “Is that a Flash action figure?”

“He loves the Flash,” Samantha says, and Iris nods sagely. “We went to the parade this year and William saw him run past, I think it was the happiest moment of his entire life.”

Now that Iris is looking, she sees a lot of other Flash-related details on Oliver’s son: a backpack full of the lightning insignia; red-and-gold shoelaces. His fingers worry and worry at the figure; he drops it and quickly picks it back up.

The bell at the door tinkles, and when Iris sees who’s coming in, she smiles wide.

“Hey,” Iris whispers. “You _really_ love the Flash?”

William nods eagerly. Iris looks over his head and makes eye contact with her boyfriend.

“I can promise you,” Iris says, her gaze still pinned to Barry, “He comes through here at _least_ every Tuesday.”

.


End file.
